60s Who: All I really know are the existing stories from Hartnell's first season, "The Mind Robber", and "The War Games". I really like these stories a lot, particularly "The Mind Robber"; the scene with the Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe spinning off into nothingness on a floating TARDIS console is staggering. I wish more Troughton stories existed, as it seems that they're fantastic. Ian and Barbara are two of the best companions ever in Who history and probably the best of the "signature companions" (although Sarah Jane and Tegan come very close).
70s Who: First off, Tom Baker was a genius. Ultra-hammy, yet absolutely perfect. He's one reason why the show thrived in the 70s. The other reason is Jon Pertwee. His fey, sarcastic Doctor with his love of gadgets and hand-to-hand combat was also excellent. Minuses have to be levelled against some of their companions, though; Jo was absolutely irritating 75 percent of the time, K9 became the ultimate cop-out, Romana II was about as thrilling as a soggy block of wood (only less emotive), and Adric had a promising start but dissolved into a petulant, steamy mess (as well as a fine patina on the Earth's crust, but that's unrelated). On the other hand, there were some truly inspired companion pairings in this era: Liz Shaw and 3rd; Sarah Jane and 3rd; Sarah Jane, Harry, and 4th; Romana I and 4th; Leela and 4th. It also helps that 4th Doc is so quotable. ("HARRY SULLIVAN IS AN IDIOT!")
80s Who: Davison's era is deeply, DEEPLY underrated. Only two stories from the three seasons don't work ("Time-Flight", "The King's Demons"), and one of them has one of the greatest endings in Who history ("I thought you were going with them." "....So did I.") Janet Fielding is so underrated it ISN'T FUNNY. She and Davison may not have gotten along on a personal level, but their characters were made for each other. Davison also boasted some of the best departures of the series (Tegan, Adric, and Nyssa all have good ones, while Turlough's is decent but anti-climactic). Colin Baker never had a chance, unfortunately; most of his stories are really very good (of special note are "Vengeance On Varos", "The Mysterious Planet", "The Two Doctors", and "Revelation Of The Daleks"), but his coat ruins them. Also, Melanie Bush was completely misconceived from the get-go. If she had been a little less shrill and a little less mainc, she'd have been great. Sylvester McCoy... let's just say there was a lot of potential in those stories. "Paradise Towers" could have been one of the greatest stories in Who history had the director been shot before he got onto the set. Many of the Ace stories are brimming with good ideas, but are plotted so murkily that they're difficult to follow and mixed so poorly with the background music blots out important dialogue, causing the impression that crucial revelations are pulled out of the Doctor's ass at opportune moments rather than as a carefully-orchestrated plot put into motion by the Doctor before the villian even knew he was there. Even stories that largely work ("The Greatest Show In The Galaxy", "Battlefield") are undermined by poor choices made by the actors/directors which deflate key scenes of their tension. Still, I can't be completely down on an era that has Kate O'Mara doing a really mean imitation of Melanie Bush.
The 90s and beyond: The Who franchise has metamorphosed into a successful book series, an audio play series, a comic strip series... it just keeps going on and on. I only follow the book series, and my main comment here is that all of the book companions are light-years better than the television companions. Grant, Bernice, Chris, Roz, Sam, Fitz and Anji all have benefitted from appearing as novels in characters, where more emphasis on developing them as interesting beings can be worked into the larger story. Also, some of the writers for the book series are flat-out incredible. (Names that come to mind immediately include Lawrence Miles, Dave Stone, Kate Orman, and Justin Richards, although are many, many more who are very good and none are complete hacks.) Wow, did I really type all that?
